Editorial: Springfield shooting victims deserved kinder fate

The Republican / Dave RobackState police aided Springfield police at the scene of a fatal shooting in Van Horn Park at the end of Penacook Street in Springfield on Tuesday evening.

The fact that three young men are facing charges in last Tuesday’s shooting death of 17-year-old Jose Colon in Van Horn Park is a cause for relief, but not joy.

We’re grateful that police were able to make swift arrests in the case. Now it will be up to the legal system to determine the facts and whether or not they were responsible for Colon’s death.

But whatever the outcome of the case, we doubt we will ever get a reasonable explanation why Colon was killed. Nor will we ever truly understand why 19-year-old Reality Shabazz Walker was gunned down only eight days earlier on Nursery Street.

What we do know is that somehow the cycle of violence has to end, and the city’s gangs brought under control. In every sense of the word these killings were senseless.

We are also saddened by the fact that Colon was killed in Van Horn Park.

For many city residents, the beautifully refurbished park, which in many ways is Hungry Hill’s backyard, brings back pleasant memories. The fact that Colon was killed so close to a softball diamond makes us angry.

In a way it sums up what is so terrible about these crimes. Teenagers should be preparing for their adult lives. They should be studying, and they should be playing in places like Van Horn Park.

Something is terribly wrong when young man is shot to death in a place made for play.